Yorkshire authority seeks £3m 'modern, cloud-based, future-proof ERP solution' in as few products as possible

No pressure

West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA) is on the hunt for a new £3m ERP system amid an IT services revamp.

A tender notice described the way in which the English local authority – created in 2014 to bring together projects across Bradford, Calderdale, Kirklees, Leeds, Wakefield, and York – intends to "transform how the entire organisation works by bringing step change improvements to Finance, HR and Payroll activities".

"Technology offers opportunities for greater efficiencies, better communications and improved productivity. The successful implementation within the CA is essential to change the organisation, culture and ways of working," the document said.

The prior information notice is an early stage market engagement to see what might be out there in terms of "a modern, cloud-based future-proof ERP solution".

The system will cover HR, payroll, and finance as WYCA wants "an all in one single solution, although the [authority] will consider separate modules which will be integrated or one solution which comes pre-integrated".

The combined authority said its current systems have been in place for many years but didn't name the specific brand of wares involved. However, its Corporate Technology Strategy 2018-21 mentions 212 Oracle Databases are in use, while an IT support document mentions contracts for Oracle 11g databases.

Earlier this year, WYCA launched a £150,000 tender looking to improve its IT services by introducing ITIL management standards.

"A best-practice approach will be used to re-engineer the end-to-end delivery for all ICT services, this is not about improving speed of technology delivery but producing better designed and more stable services that delivers organisation benefits which improves customer satisfaction," the tender said. ®